Free Remember Me by Lesley Pearse

against his tanned face. ‘Tell me about yourself, Mary,’ he asked, then added, ‘And you too, Sarah.’
    It seemed to Mary that Fate was smiling on her for once, for Tench sat down on a crate and looked relaxed as he talked to them both. No guards came near and there were no distractions of any kind; they could have been two ordinary girls chatting to a friend after work.
    Mary let Sarah talk first. She spoke of her husband’s death and the children she was afraid she’d never see again. She went on to explain that her parents were past the age when they should be bringing up children, and if they should die, the children would go to the workhouse.
    Tench really listened. Mary saw him clench his lips as if he was incensed that Sarah’s family circumstances hadn’t been taken into consideration when she was sentenced.
    Mary’s own story was very short. She told him about her family in Fowey and how she’d left for Plymouth to get work.
    ‘I wish to God I’d stayed at home now,’ she saidruefully, as Sarah tactfully moved away to check the drying washing. ‘It pains me to think that I’ll never set foot in Cornwall, or see my family ever again in this life.’
    She half expected Tench to insist she would, that seven years weren’t so long, but she knew by his grave expression he could hold out no hope for her.
    ‘It is more difficult for women convicts to return,’ he said. ‘Men can sign on a ship coming home when their time is up.’
    He didn’t have to add that there was no such opportunity for women, and therefore they were forced to stay. Mary heard it in his voice.
    ‘I’ll get back,’ she said with determination. ‘Somehow. But do you know where we are to be sent?’
    He shrugged his shoulders. ‘There’s talk of Botany Bay, in New South Wales, the country Captain Cook discovered. But no one else has been there to confirm or deny it’s a viable proposition. America is out of the question now since she gained her independence. They tried Africa and that failed.’
    ‘If we stay here on the Dunkirk we shall all die,’ Mary said dolefully.
    Tench sighed. ‘I agree it’s bad, but what can the government do? Every gaol is overcrowded.’
    Mary was tempted to comment that if they didn’t send people to prison for petty crimes like stealing a pie, there would be no overcrowding. But she wanted to keep Tench’s interest, not have him scuttling away in haste.
    ‘Tell me about you yourself, sir,’ she asked instead. ‘I heard you were in the war in the Americas?’
    ‘I was,’ he grinned ruefully. ‘Taken prisoner of war too. Maybe that’s why I’m a little more sympathetic to prisoners here than the average Marine. I grew up in Penzance too, so I also know how hard life is in Cornwall for most people.’
    Mary sat on the deck by the wash tub entranced as Tench told her of his happy childhood memories of Penzance. He had of course come from an entirely different world to her – a big house with servants, a boarding school in Wales, a family with a good name and money. But there was common ground, their love of Cornwall, his interest and affection for ordinary people. He could paint vivid pictures with just a few words of his life with the Marines, of America and of London.
    ‘I have to go now,’ he said suddenly, perhaps aware he’d stayed talking to her for far too long. ‘You empty that tub and clear away. I’ll bring you up a little something to eat.’
    ‘He’s not the kind to take a woman,’ Sarah said sharply as soon as Tench had walked away. She had remained silent all the time Mary was talking to him, only nodding and smiling from time to time. ‘You won’t get what you want from him, Mary.’
    ‘How do you know?’ Mary asked, hurt because she thought the older woman was ridiculing her.
    ‘I know about men,’ Sarah said simply. ‘He’s the kind who will save himself for the woman he’ll marry. A rare breed.’
    Mary thought Sarah was mistaken when Tench came back